Salisbury Zoners Reject Plan To Expand Lvhc Day-care Center

May 08, 1986|by SCOTT J. HIGHAM, The Morning Call

The Lehigh Valley Hospital Center's proposal to double the size of its day- care center was soundly defeated Tuesday night by the Salisbury Zoning Board, which said thehospital failed to establish a need for the $525,000 facility.

The board's 3-1 vote came after an hour of testimony by hospital officials, who said the proposed 7,000-square-foot center is essential to retaining and attracting highly qualified professional staff members, an argument the board rejected.

"The hospital is obviously disappointed, and we will seek measures to still get approval," Lionel Kier, an LVHC vice president, said after the zoning hearing. James B. Martin, an attorney for the hospital, said he is considering an appeal of the Zoning Board decision.

Citing a nine-month waiting list of 65 children, Kier said the hospital's current day-care center is woefully inadequate to meet the needs of its staff members, particularly those of registered nurses. The proposal, which would increase capacity of the day-care center from 190 to 360 children, could erase the waiting list while making the hospital center more attractive to current and prospective employees, he said.

"Without adequate day-care, they (employees) will go to another hospital," said Kier.

"I would like to see proof that day-care centers are related to quality of (health) care," said Charles R. Clemmer Jr., who lives on Sunset Avenue, a short distance from the proposed 80-by-85-foot building. Clemmer told the board that hospital officials failed to establish that the proposed center is an "accessory use" to LVHC's activities, and should not be granted "special exception" status.

Arguing that the board had granted a variance for the original day-care center in 1981, hospital officials said the proposed expansion should also be granted as an exception to the township's zoning laws, which restrict the types of projects that can be constructed on hospital grounds.

The hospital also had asked forpermission to use a house south of the hospital center for a temporary day-care center while the proposed facility was under construction.

"We're not against the hospital," said Clemmer. "But when they do something, we would like them to think about us."

Since he moved next to the center in 1984, Clemmer said, the hospital has built a trailer complex and a parking lot, in addition to receiving approval to build an new administrative facility and dormitories for residents. Now, with the prospect of 360 children just 18 feet from his house, Clemmer said the hospital has overstepped its boundaries. "A day-care center is not a hospital," he said.

Kier, however, argued that the hospital has a responsibility to provide day-care services for its staff members, many of whom want to maintain their careers while raising their families. Although about 190 children are enrolled in the hospital's day-care center, which is in the southwest corner of the hospital complex, a maximum of 90 occupy the building at any one time.

"During the past 10 months, we have received numerous complaints from employees who can't get their children in the day-care center," Kier said. In addition to the waiting list, a hospital survey shows that nearly 100 staff members are pregnant. Kier added that the hospital also expects to fill 60 nursing positions shortly. A day-care center would attract the most qualified candidates to fill those slots, he said.

"I am not in agreement that the (proposed) day-care center is critical to the quality of care (at the hospital," said James Kelley, a Zoning Board member who voted against the proposal. Louis Falcone and Loretta Boyko also voted down the day-care center. Russel Bleiler voted in favor of the plan.